Lame Stereotypes in Advertising I Am Sick Of Seeing

Author’s Note: After I published this post, I realized it was my 100th post on American Debt Project! Thank you for sticking it out with me, I promise it will only get better from here!

I don’t feel like writing about money today. So I thought I would focus on my other favorite topic: advertising. Who gives these ads the OK? Is every advertising executive a sad, humorless misanthrope who lost the will to care/live after their third divorce? Probably. Let’s just look at a few stereotypical roles we see in advertising that really need to be retired:

1. The Emasculated Husband who has Lost the Will to Live/Ever Talk Back to His Wife

Yup, wearing that sweater and hunching his shoulders that high? This is one happy marriage!

I can’t stand you, you sad excuse for a man! I’d like to punch these dudes to knock them out of complacency. Here’s an example and another and another (by the way has anyone else noticed the disparity in ages in the last commercial? Doesn’t the woman look more like his mom than his wife?). This is a known advertising ploy commonly referred to as “putz husband/bitchy wife”, which we see in sitcoms as well. I’m not advocating for the guys in these commercials to act like total douches to their wives, but maybe you should grow some balls, dude! Apparently all it takes for you to curl up into the fetus position is a withering look and/or eye roll from your wife. I admit I don’t know what married life is like, but if this is it, then count me out.

2. The Prim, Undersexed Woman in her 20s/30s

The glasses imply she's uptight and uncomfortable with her body!

Whether she’s having an orgasm eating a yogurt cup (and no Yoplait*, yogurt is definitely not the same thing as raspberry cheesecake) or dreaming about the manly man buying a truck at the Chevy dealership, I feel sorry for this girl. She seems so miserable living alone with her cat, walking around in her khaki pants and reasonable haircut. There’s nothing wrong with having a cat, but women in commercials who are under 30 and have a cat are implied to be sad and lonely. And uptight.

3. The Kid Who is Too Young to be Exasperated Acting All Exasperated with his Parents

What's that? You "got" me in a Highlander? Funny, I don't remember you shelling out $32,845 for it.

Remember those Toyota Highlander commercials with that annoying little brat who thought he was too cool for everything? Here’s a video that seems to be someone’s graduate coursework that gets into way more detail and perhaps stretches a little too far on the ideology behind the admittedly bland suburbanite life that is implied here. Either way, this kid is still a little shit.

4. The Too Stupid to Use Any Product Guy Fumbling Around on an Informercial: Needs no introduction. Enjoy!

“Sara’s not getting a date for the prom, look at her!”

Special thanks to Cult of Money for his input on this post. Guys, what are the most annoying ads you see on television or hear on the radio? I know there are plenty I’m leaving out, fill me in.

*Bonus points if you recognize who that is in that old Yoplait commercial!